Chelsea 0 – 1 Barcelona

Match report for Chelsea 0 – 1 Barcelona

The first leg of the UWCL semi final finished with Barcelona taking a slender lead back to the Spotify Camp Nou.

Chelsea will have had flashbacks from their last encounter with Barcelona when they went a goal down after just four minutes. Having lost the 2021 Champions League Final 4 – 0 to Barcelona in a game where Barca scored after just one minute, even the most optimistic of Chelsea fans would have been worried about seeing a similar scoreline.

Chelsea went into the game at Stamford Bridge without Bright or Buchanan. However, Eriksson and Mjelde formed an effective defensive pairing against a Barcelona team who broke the record for most goals scored in the UWCL groups stage. A goal haul of 29 group stage goals surpassed PSG’s total of 24 group stage goals in last year’s competition.

It seemed at points in the game that Barcelona were happy to sit back and pass the ball around without playing with their usual intensity. You got the feeling that they are confident that a 1 – 0 lead to the Camp Nou was the result they needed. With 70% possession, Barcelona dictated play, accumulating 16 shots to Chelsea’s 6.

The return of Alexia Putellas

The match at the Camp Nou could be where we finally see the comeback of Alexia Putellas, nine months after rupturing her ACL. The Barca fans will be hoping to see La Reina take to her stage after what has been a long time out of the game. Meanwhile, Chelsea fans will be hoping that their team manages to create more chances for their prolific striker Sam Kerr to shock the Catalan team.

Chelsea have given themselves a great chance to progress to the final but Barcelona will go into the match as the favourites. A potentially full Camp Nou is likely to add even more motivation for the home team but Chelsea will be out for revenge from their loss in the Final two years ago.